Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe, February 6, 2025 – In pursuit of continuously improving application-related and patient-oriented medical research in Germany, in 2024 Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (EKFS) offered an out-of-the-ordinary opportunity to experienced Clinician Scientists for the sixth time: application to receive one of the Else Kröner Clinician Scientist Professorships respectively funded by the foundation with 1.1 million euros. Four of these professorships were awarded in 2024.
Designed for a maximum term of ten years, this professorship presents the possibility for professional activity to be divided into 50 percent apiece between research and patient care. “This is how we respond to the growing demand for medical doctors who introduce scientific findings directly into patient care,” emphasizes Prof. Dr. Michael Madeja, Chairman of the Management Board at EKFS.
Following a multistage selection process, out of 21 application entries the following candidates were chosen at the end of 2024 for this stipend:
Immunoimaging in Neuro-Oncology and Neurosciences: Prof. (apl.) Dr. Dr. Michael Breckwoldt, Dept. of Neuroradiology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Medical Faculty Heidelberg at the University of Heidelberg
This project aims to translate the imaging of immunoresponses into clinical practice. Gliomas are malignant brain tumors which actively suppress immunoresponses directed against the tumor. Until now visualizing immunological effector cells has not been possible at the clinic level. This, however, would be crucial to gain a better understanding of neurological disorders and brain tumors. Novel therapy concepts are currently being developed that modulate a tumor’s immunological microenvironment. These new therapies equally require an advancement in the imaging involved for treatment monitoring. The development of such new imaging biomarkers of immunological processes could also distinctly improve the monitoring of other solid tumors and neurological disorders, and is intended to be driven forward within the scope of the project.
Microbiome-Based Translational Precision Medicine for Cardiometabolic Diseases: PD Dr. Rima Mohsen Chakaroun, Medical Dept. III, University of Leipzig Medical Center
Up to 50% of the global population could be affected by obesity in 2035, and with this an increase in cardiometabolic diseases that pose a threat, particularly among women. Current treatment approaches reach their limits here because they do not encompass the diversity in the ways these diseases develop and manifest themselves. Using multi-omics technologies, Dr. Chakaroun explores how the microbiome – our largest endocrine organ – contributes to the heterogeneity of these diseases and their sex/gender-specific differences. The project investigates the role of the microbiome during metabolism, including in metabolizing medications and sex hormones along with the microbiome’s influence on vital organs such as the kidney, liver and heart. The aim is to improve the treatment of cardiometabolic disorders individually.
Optimizing the Use of Modern Antibody-Drug Conjugates and Immunotherapies in Cancerous Diseases via Systems Biology Approaches: PD Dr. Markus Eckstein, Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Erlangen & FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg
Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and immunotherapies are revolutionizing oncology, e.g. in the event of bladder cancer (enfortumab vedotin + pembrolizumab). ADCs only have an effect, however, where an existing target structure is already in place and the ADCs have “blind spots”. How tumor biology, genetics, surface proteins and tumor microenvironment lead to resistances against ADCs has barely been researched. The team around PD Dr. Eckstein wants to analyze patient tissue from clinical studies (bladder, breast, lung cancer) by means of spatial multi-omics and single-cell sequencing in order to understand therapy failure or excellent response better. The aim on the one hand for ADCs already in use is to identify optimal candidates on the basis of new diagnostics, and on the other to discover target proteins for new ADCs and combine them with immunotherapies to make more effective and more compatible therapies possible.
Autoantibody-Mediated Renal Diseases – Chances for Future Therapies: PD Dr. Nicola M. Tomas, Dept. of Medicine III, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)
Autoimmune diseases of the kidney, so-called glomerulonephritides, are a frequent cause of chronic renal diseases. Above all young patients are afflicted with these diseases, which often exhibit a particularly aggressive progression with a rapid loss of kidney function. Glomerulonephritides are responsible for about 1/6 of the 80,000 new dialysis patients per year in the EU. Autoantibodies play a pathogenic role in the case of many of these diseases. The overarching goal of this project is to make more specific therapies possible by gaining an improved pathogenetic understanding of autoimmune kidney diseases. This involves, in particular, the removal of pathogenic autoantibodies as well as the elimination of autoreactive B cells.
Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (EKFS) – Advancing research. Helping people.
Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the funding and advancement of medical research and the support of humanitarian projects. To date the foundation has funded around 2,600 projects. With an annual funding volume currently amounting to over 70 million euros it is the largest foundation in Germany that actively funds and supports medicine. You can find more information at: www.ekfs.de/en
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